It appears some new promo material going up in Apple stores has a subtle footnote stating the white iPhone 4 will be available Spring 2011. Not huge news, as Apple stated spring availability for iPhone 4 a while back, but seeing it in black and white makes it a bit more believable, considering the numbers of delays to date.

Given iPhone 5 will be right around the corner by that point, I don't see many people jumping for joy. I'm hoping they'll take a different approach with iPhone 5 and only offer a white back, not front. It seems that's what was causing all the problems to begin with. I personally didn't much care for the white front to begin with.

Any readers out there excited over this, or are you planning to just wait it out and see what iPhone 5 will offer?

A lot of people won't know the iPhone 5 will be out soon after and this will help Apple use up some excess stock of white parts they've probably had since June. It's no skin off my back, I've always preferred the black iPhones anyway.

Although I prefer black, I agree with Allyson's suggestion for white on only the back. One of the reasons I wouldn't want white on the front is because backlit screens are easier to view with a black surround/border. Also, any white areas on the screen would never match the white of the case. With white on the back it would still look just as stylish to everyone else, since they don't see the face when you're using it.

they might as well not release it now honestly, its kind of pointless. iphone 5 will be out in june/july, hopefully with an antenna fix, which is the feature im looking forward to the most! they failed with the white iphone, probably due to manufacturing reasons, reasons we may never know about. it wouldnt be a problem if apple would just say hey we are having a hard time making these we are not gonna release the white iphone 4. either way i dont care, iphones and iphone

Count me in as one of the people who foolishly waited for the white iPhone 4. I personally found the outside casing very attractive and I wanted something different from all my other friends who'd bought black iPhones. (Yeah, yeah, it's what's between the glass that counts, I know.) Anyway, this wait took so long I honestly got caught up with the new WP7 Focus; I like the look of the new UI and by the time iPhone 5 comes up we'll be able to see the strides WP7 has made to catch up to the smartphone leader. If it's anything substantial, the choice between feature set or UI design is going to become very, very difficult. And just think: Apple could have avoided all this trouble with their Most Important Customer (answer: me) by releasing their white iPhone as planned! Hmm. Haha

@Justin, WP7 interface looks real basic to me.
And people still buy the 3gs! even though the 4 is out.. I had a friend buy a 3gs unsubsidized, because she said she didn't want to get used to an iPhone 4 after her 3g died 0_o.... People who dont read iPhone blogs, are clueless to the fact that apple does scheduled releases, until they see a commercial or something, so when March 11 rolls around, and they put a commercial on during desperate housewives, with that catchy music, and say now available in white... people will drop their 200 bucks the same week.

@jcal08 I've heard that a lot of places, but I've also heard that in person the UI looks less basic and a lot more futuristic, and I'm assuming the S-AMOLED goes a long way toward making that happen (which is why I'm only considering the Focus at this point). The iPhone does so much, but I've been staring at an iPhone screen for 3 years and will gladly take the leap to a different platform if it means I don't have to sacrifice the basic functionalities I really need. So, I wait. Haha.

They could come out with it 2 days before the iPhone 5 and it would fly off the shelf. 90% of people have no idea what's going on with technology. I told my friend earlier this year that the iPhone 4 was coming out. He still bought a 3G[S] 34 days before the 4 came out. I said "dood! Wait a few weeks and you'll know the date" he didn't believe it was coming out at all. Another friend just bought an iPad last week. I said why? I told you the new one is coming out in a month or 2. They just don't want to wait.
I've got to hand it to the highschool kid that's made $150,000 selling white iPhone 4 parts. Thats obviously worked well for him.

It also comes with price. I bet you that the white iPhone 4 will be offered at a cheaper price i.e. $99 like the 3GS as it will become obsolete more than likely. So people who really aren't ready to drop $199 or $299 (God forbid these prices elevate) then the white iPhone 4 with a cheaper price tag is the way to go! I have the black one and can't wait for 5, but let's be honest, how many new features are they REALLY going to put in this new one? I'm thinking a new design, and maybe a couple of small fixes but nothing way out there, so it makes sense to some people to just buy the 4 with few differences between the 5.

@Justin.. i actually got to play with one for like 20 mins or so at an att booth set up outside a college football game.. I would suggest you do the same. Cause I just wasnt personally too thrilled with the tiles.. some changed for no reason. the lady that was showing me the phone, couldnt explain what they were doing.. the black space on the side was akward, because instead of using that real estate for words, they made words stretch across pages, IMO its just a bad attempt at becoming innovative..

I don't buy Apple's "light leak" or "home button color mismatch" stories. I think it's possible to totally block light transmission with white paint (maybe even with a metallic film under it, for example). And color-matching glass to plastic isn't a brand new science.
But wouldn't it be cool if Apple were working on making the actual Retina Display turn white when it's off? That way there would be no black rectangle on the white iPhone faceplate. Just a crazy thought.

well friday i finally got an black iphone 4 yeah you can call me whatever i was holding on got tired of waiting and whos knows white will come out in march 2011 they can keep backing it up so noo i would buy it i would wait for iphone 5

@jcal08 That sucks to hear. I'll definitely take a look at it when I get the chance. All my local Best Buy had was an HTC Surround, which doesn't have a display that accentuates the UI. But I'm sure I'll find a Focus at an AT&T Wireless store to try. As far as the interface goes, I really enjoy the unbalanced nature of it - I like the avant-garde look and feel, and that feeling was only enhanced by the emulator I downloaded a while back. But my tastes are probably really artsy-fartsy...so there's that. Hahaha.
@Christian That's an awesome point and makes me feel much better about waiting until July. I do wonder as well what Apple might bring to the table with 5. I, for one, am personally pushing for the solar-powered case they filed a patent for a long time ago. Either way, it's nice to know that 4 might remain a viable (and much more cost-effective) alternative further down the road.

One thing to consider is the fact that Apple might not release new iPhone hardware next summer. The iPhone 4 is pretty good in terms of hardware; even as Android devices keep quickening the pace of innovation - at bottom, a smartphone is a smartphone is a smartphone, and the iPhone 4 will probably not fall of the map in terms of hardware specs within the year.
It is possible that Apple will simply release a major OS revision next summer. In fact, that is what I think will happen - they'll continue to sell the Black iPhone 4 and the white one, and instead release a major OS update for the iPhone 4, effectively pushing it into the next gen on current hardware (much like Xbox has done over and over again with the Xbox 360).

I bought the White and gun metal backs. Not really bothered about the front, fact I quite like the black/White contrast. Who cares now if they do bring a White one out, just change your black one to a White one now.

What if the white iphone4 is slated to be the Verizon iphone? Plenty of people would switch for the service regardless of the color of the phone. Those still dying to get a white phone would be tempted to switch carriers, too. And the explosion of white iphones would be good promotion for Verizon since it would be very noticeable when people switch. (And can they just do something to tweak that antenna issue while they're at it?)

Have any of you considered that maybe the "iPhone 5" you're all SO SURE will be out this summer might be delayed -- or put off for another YEAR while Apple waits for LTE to take hold?
I mean, yeah maybe the marketing department will release a slightly-upgraded iPhone 4 and CALL it an iPhone 5, but apart from a chip bump (think 3G-to-3GS), I don't think I've heard anything concrete about any "killer features" the alleged iPhone 5 would have over the iPhone 4 -- and after all the crap they went through to get the iPhone 4's design right, I think this may well turn out to be a "rebuilding year" for iPhone.
To me it seems obvious they're not focusing on the "iPhone 5," and are instead focusing on getting the iPhone 4 (or, "4+" if you like) out to more carriers, in at least one "new" colour, and probably with more of an iOS upgrade than hardware changes (though as I say there could well be a chip bump) this year.
The REAL iPhone 5 -- an LTE supporting, all Apple-chipped monster -- is coming out in 2012. That's my bet.